Today is Halloween. I was thinking ahead to next Oct.31. What kind of costume would Sarah like to wear? Will she want to be a princess, or a cowboy? It will be exciting to see what she is like, and what kind of personality she has! I found a photo of Nicole(now 13) when she was 2 years old! To Cute!!!

I found this adoption video just now. It's kind of long (17 minutes) but really great!

Wow! 3 families from my Nanjing Yahoo group got their TA's (that is travel approval) today. Two of the families are already traveling next week! Maybe that means new pictures of Sarah are on the way!!!I have been in this Yahoo group since last April. I don't think 3 families have gotten a TA in one day? I am very excited for them, and for the beautiful kids they are about to adopt.I can imagine how exciting it must be for them to finally be going to China! Oh, what a dream!!!

From FedX

Oct 30, 2006 3:40 PM Delivered CHANGCHUN CN

How International is our International adoption? I was just checking on the FedEx tracking of our documents. They went from CHATTANOOGA, TN to MEMPHIS, TN , next to ANCHORAGE, AK , and now they are in BEIJING! They should be delivered tomorrow! Here I am in Germany, and according to our little map, we have readers from all over North America, Europe, and Australia, and even some from Asia, and Africa. I would sure like to know how people in Africa found our blog! I am so amazed by the reach of the Internet! I can not tell you how happy I am our papers are actually in China as I type this! In a matter of a few months,God willing, I will be in China too! I hope wonderful people like you, people from the entire world will come along with me, crying and cheering for Sarah as she becomes part of our family forever!

Hi, I just found this really great short film on You-tube. It is about a boy who sponsors a girl from Africa, and through their letters falls in love with her. I know this short film is off the topic of adoption. What I really liked about it is how it shows that the people we sponsor in other countries are in fact people. They are wonderful, intelligent, funny, caring and lovable people. They may require help because they are caught in times of war, sickness, and poverty, but they are not just numbers. I know this because I have two adopted sons. I know children in orphanages are wonderful people who deserve love. They are so much more then numbers. Anyway I was touched by this short film. I thought you might like it too!

We got a Fedex tracking number. I checked it. It said our package was sent
Oct 27, 2006
Estimated delivery
Oct 30, 2006 6:00 PM

I was at Walmart today with Jessica. She likes to shop there once a week. They had this cute angel outfit. I just HAD to get it for Sarah. I don't think realistically we will be getting her before Christmas, so maybe I will stick it in a care package. Maybe they would at least take a picture of her in it! It even has wings!

Some birthday cards. So far I'm having a great day! Don't you just love Philips card! It reminds me of the spelling of the owl on winnie pooh.

Praise God I got my birthday gift! Thank you for your prayers! I just got this e-mail from our agency...

Amy,

We got your documents today and your complete dossier will be off to China this afternoon. You will receive an email from FedEx with the tracking number.

Relax and have a good weekend.

Dick




"All children come from God. for some the journey home just takes a little longer"
- author unknown

I wanted to tell you about a new book I am going to order today. Its called "There is no me without you". It is the story of a middle class Ethiopian widow whose home became the refuge for hundreds of aids orphans.We adopted Philip & Thomas through Adoption Advocates International. They do allot of work with the children in Ethiopia. They have a very good adoption program, a home for children with aids, and also educational programs to help the kids who will never be adopted. There is a steady increase in the number of Ethiopian children becoming orphans because of Aids. In the past it was mostly famine, conflict and other diseases that claimed the lives of parents. I am not sure of this fact, but I believe Ethiopia has the highest percentage of orphans in the world. The need is over whelming. If you can not adopt from Ethiopia, I encourage you to give. There are allot of agency's there, but I know AAI does a very good work, and basically 100% of what you give will make it to the kids!

We were sitting around the dinner table tonight reading a box full of fortune cookies. The boys are both learning to read, and were very motivated to read every cookie. The cookies were pretty generic. I found some better cookie fortunes online. I also found this sweet video of Mr Rogers discovering how fortune cookies are made! The video is something for the little kids!


Don't lose face! Insist on buying dinner for your table mates.

Your future is embarrassing. I can't even talk about it without curling right back up.


It is time for you to apologize for your current hair cut and get a new one.


Ideas are like children; there are none so wonderful as your own.


The first step to better times is to imagine them.


He who laughs at himself never runs out of things to laugh at.








This little girl has a novel way of breaking open her fortune cookies.

Let not your longing, slay your appetite for living - Jim Elliot.

It is just too easy to live for that day I get Sarah! It can easily make my heart sick to wait...and wait some more! Maybe my papers go to China tomorrow, and maybe not! My big challenge is just to keep on living. Yesterday we got new curtains for the living room. Today I hope to clean out the garage. My birthday is on Saturday.I'm not sure I feel like celebrating. If the papers went to China,it might help put me in a party mood? New pictures would also help. I think there are two families I know of going to Nanjing. We might get new photos soon! It's remarkable to me how powerful an effect a picture can have on me. Every picture reveals more of her personality, more of her environment, more of her day to today life.

Stupid Quotes

I think that the film Clueless was very deep. I think it was deep in the way that it was very light. I think lightness has to come from a very deep place if it's true lightness."
- Alicia Silverstone, Actress

"You guys line up alphabetically by height."
- Bill Peterson, Florida State football coach

"I get to go to lots of overseas places, like Canada."
- Britney Spears, Pop Singer


"China is a big country, inhabited by many Chinese."
- Charles De Gaulle, former French President

We just had an interesting discussion with our boys (both adopted) about why they need to call us mommy and daddy (actually it's MOM,in a demanding tone, and papa in a sweet give me what I want tone). What would you say? Allot of parents allow their kids to call them by their fist names. I think names, and titles communicate respect. They don't call their teachers by their first name. The say Mrs. SO and So... This is a sign of respect. We also make our kids say please and thank you. We are so extremely old fashioned. When they do something wrong we make them (and I mean make them...because to Philip it is a fate worse then death) say sorry! It is all about learning respect. You may disagree with me on this one. Anyway, that's how we do it around here. Besides I like to be called MOM. There are not too many people who get to call me that. Many can call me Amy. I am not willing to give up the title, I like it!

Hi, I don't know if you have noticed it, but on the side bar I added a feature by gateway Bibles. It is just under the picture of the butterflies. If you click on the small picture of the speaker, it will read the whole chapter of the day. It is just a great way to listen to a chapter of the Bible every day. It will change everyday, so you can get a new bit of spiritual food (manna) everyday! Anyway,I wanted to point it out. It is there for anyone who has an interest. It only takes between 2 minutes to 4 minutes to listen to a chapter. Also, it downloads the chapter to your computer. If you don't want it to take all your storage space, listen to the Bible, then delete the file!

It is way off topic, but I'm just starting to post some of the many writings of my autistic daughter Jessica. She can not speak, but she does have amazing things to say. If you want to read Jessica's writing then it is on my autism blog,driving Jessica's taxi. I am a very proud mom,and I am not ashamed to admit it!

Well, I finally got an update from my agency. Our papers (the 3 missing documents) look like they will go to the Chinese embassy on Wednesday,and maybe go to China by Friday or next Monday. I'm not going to get my hopes up too high, but my birthday is on Saturday. It would be a great gift to have those papers finally sent. I realize my wait will still be long. Sent documents only buy you a ticket to the back of the line!
Still, it would be progress! 3 months ago we thought our paper chase was over!
INSANE is the only appropriate word to describe the past 3 months! Anyway, I hope to pass this hurdle and get on with this journey towards the prize. She is so close I can almost touch her. When I stop and think that I will soon be blessed to be her mommy, I just want to stop and cry tears of gratitude.I am so incredibly blessed!

No news today yet, it's still early in the USA. Here are some of my favorite chocolate quotes...yes, it has come to chocolate! I've fallen off the weight watchers wagon. I had better see my papers go to China soon!!!

Chocolate: Here today .... Gone today!

Simply put... everyone has a price, mine is chocolate!

I could give up chocolate but I'm not a quitter.

Money talks. Chocolate sings.

If it ain't chocolate, it ain't breakfast!

Letter From Camp

Dear Mom & Dad:



We are having a great time here at Lake Typhoid. Scoutmaster Webb is making us all write to our parents in case you saw the flood on TV and worried. We are OK. Only 1 of our tents and 2 sleeping bags got washed away. Luckily, none of us got drowned because we were all up on the mountain looking for Chad when it happened.



Oh yes, please call Chad's mother and tell her he is OK. He can't write because of the cast. I got to ride in one of the search & rescue jeeps. It was neat. We never would have found him in the dark if it hadn't been for the lightning. Scoutmaster Webb got mad at Chad for going on a hike alone without telling anyone. Chad said he did tell him, but it was during the fire so he probably didn't hear him.


Did you know that if you put gas on a fire, the gas can will blow up? The wet wood still didn't burn, but one of our tents did. Also some of our clothes. John is going to look weird until his hair grows back.



We will be home on Saturday if Scoutmaster Webb gets the car fixed. It wasn't his fault about the wreck. The brakes worked OK when we left. Scoutmaster Webb said that a car that old you have to expect something to break down; that's probably why he can't get insurance on it. We think it's a neat car. He doesn't care if we get it dirty; and if it's hot, sometimes he lets us ride on the tailgate. It gets pretty hot with 10 people in a car. He let us take turns riding in the trailer until the highway patrolman stopped and talked to us.



Scoutmaster Webb is a neat guy. Don't worry. He is a good driver. In fact, he is
teaching Terry how to drive. But he only lets him drive on the mountain roads where there isn't any traffic. All we ever see up there are logging trucks.



This morning all of the guys were diving off the rocks and swimming out in the lake. Scoutmaster Webb wouldn't let me because I can't swim and Chad was afraid he would sink because of his cast, so he let us take the canoe across the lake. It was great. You can still see some of the trees under the water from the flood. Scoutmaster Webb isn't crabby like some scoutmasters. He didn't even get mad about the life jackets.



He has to spend a lot of time working on the car so we are trying not to cause him any trouble. Guess what? We have all passed our first aid merit badges. When Dave dove in the lake and cut his arm, we got to see how a tourniquet works.



Also Wade and I threw up. Scoutmaster Webb said it probably was just food poisoning from the leftover chicken.



I have to go now. We are going into town to mail our letters and buy bullets. Don't worry about anything. We are fine.



Love, Cole



P.S. How long has it been since I had a tetanus shot?

Why did I change my blog template,or the look of my blog? I just
changed my blog to a beta format. This allows me to add some new
features, like photo album pages. I needed to use one of blog spots
standard templates, or rewrite the code myself every time I wanted to
change things. I took the simple ways! I think the new look looks good
for the fall! Maybe I will change it again for Christmas! Thank you for
all those who are praying for our papers! I got no news from our
agency. I wish they would do a better job keeping us informed but I've
heard they (IAAP) are just really very busy right now. I am sure things
are being worked on, but somethings just take time! By the way,it was
notIAAP's fault our papers got lost. DHL lost the papers. I hope everything is finally settled by next week, and our papers can finally (FINALLY) go to China.

Oh, and I added a book list! I've read every book on the list (remember this is our 3rd adoption) & feel these were good books. 10% of the money you spend on these books will go to Love Without Boundaries.

What ever you do for the children you do for me.

- Jesus

Funds for new diapers. While we wait, and wait, I thought I would make
good use of my time. In all the photos I've seen of Sarah and the other
kids in Nanjing they had on cloth diapers (nothing wrong with that).
These cloth diapers looked like they had seen better days! I'm thinking
it would be nice to replace these diapers. Realize there are about 300
kids in this children's home, maybe more. That is allot of diapers!!! We
are checking on the need (actual numbers) and the cost for diapers in
China. You can bet I'm not going to try to carry them myself! Right now
I need ideas from you about fund raisers. Maybe we can set up a number
of bake sales or something? I'm thinking I can maybe set up an account with Love without boundaries, and if you raise money for the Nanjing diaper project , you can send the money directly to them! Do I have anyone willing to help with this project?

Things have not changed, but nearly everything has changed. I want to
thank you for your prayers. 48 hours ago we got word from our agency
that our papers were lost. As far as I know they are still lost, and
may never be found. My only prayer is that they are protected, and not
misused by someone. The documents include a notarized original birth certificate of Juergen. I guess if someone wanted to steal his ID, that paper might be
useful? Our agency is working hard at replacing what was lost. They
tell us it could even be replaced as quickly as Friday. That is yet to
be seen, but I trust they will do what they can, as quickly as they
can. What has been changed is me. I was sad, and then I got mad. I got
mad at the devil, who you may or may not believe in. I believe the devil
is real, and he seeks to discourage the children of God. In the past 48
hours I've asked for prayer, and I feel those prayers. They fill me
with
joy, courage, and even a boldness. I have a boldness I have not felt in
a long time. This is my adoption blog, so I am not going to get too
preachy here,(OK...maybe I am already to preachy here) but thank you so
much for holding me up in this discouraging time. I do not know if I
will get Sarah this year. I realize it would be a real miracle if I
did. If I do then great, and if I don't that is great too. I am
feeling
so sure that God has a plan much bigger then my own. I am also sure his
timing is perfect, and the best efforts of the devil will not and can
not upset what God intends to do.

One more thing, I can see
from my new counter that there are people from all over the world
reading this blog. My counter does not give me your e-mail address, but
it does tell me what countries you live in. I feel very honored that
you are taking the time to read my blog. I just wanted to tell you...I
am honored you are reading.

I was watching Silly songs on YouTube, just to cheer myself up. I found this silly song that reminds me of myself. This is for all of us waiting for documents, or TA's. I hope it makes you smile!

Well, the drama continues. I got this post from my agency...
"DHL
says it(meaning our missing papers) was given to them and they have
been able to track it a point but then it just disappears. It is
probably in a land fill some where by now. The courier has contacted DHL at least twice a day since it was lost so they are working hard to find it."
It's
nice to know that the papers really were sent(understand that the
courier had sent them by accident to another family and we were not
sure they actually sent the papers back). There is a tracking number,
and it is DHL (a German company by the way) that lost the papers! We are
working hard to replace what is missing, but I'm still praying these
papers will still be found. On the one hand Juergen and I feel like we are in a spiritual battle. We feel under attack and beaten
up. On the other hand we are almost laughing at how stupid all this is!
As I wrote in my last post, this is not the first time something like
this has happened to us. Maybe I should get more worried if everything
just was easy! Faith is the assurance of things hoped for the evidence
of things not seen. Here we have the clear chance to see God do some
great things for us. We are beginning to step out of our boat, and take
a walk on the water. Our challenge now is to just keep our eyes fixed
on Jesus. As long as we keep our eyes fixed on God, and look for him to
hold us up,I am sure we will not sink.

Ok, I'm going to preach. If you don't want to read a preachy post, be warned.
I
don't know what is happening with our papers. It looks pretty bad, and
I guess with time can probably be fixed. I wish this was not happening,
but it is. I heard a sermon
this weekend about the authority of God. The preacher had an umbrella
in his hand as a visual aid. As long as you are under the umbrella you
receive protection from it. It is not enough to hold it in your hand,
you
must walk with it over your head. We can not step away from Gods
authority, and expect it to cover us.I may not understand what is
happening to us, but I am placing myself under Gods authority. He has
all power, and even with our lost papers He has all control of me and
my life. I give Him the control, and authority to do as He will. I
expect to be able to sleep peacefully to night knowing it's taken care
of!Ok,end of my sermon! Well, maybe not...
Some of you know us.
And if you know us, you know our visa application was lost when we
wanted to get married. I was in the USA, andJuergen was in Germany. The
German government would not let him leave the country, because he had
applied for this visa, and did not have it. I had to send out wedding
invitations not knowing if he would even be allowed to be there!
Finally, 9 days before our weddingJuergen was able to come to the USA. Immigration had lost our papers, and we had to get a congressman
to find out they were lost. He made them walk our papers through the
process ( a normal two month process) in one day! We got married, and
it has been 16 wonderful years! I have other stories, but it's very
late and I need to sleep. My point is this, my faith is based on a long walk with God. I've seen His faithfulness time and time again. I am under His authority, and He will do great things for us, and for Sarah.
Please pray they find our papers. Thanks!!!

PLEASE PRAY!!!
I just got email from our agency, the courier service in Washington lost 3 of our documents . These are Juergen's birth certificate and both of our police records. We sent the original
documents. If they are not found, we need to order them again (a months
delay). All I can say is we need prayer. The documents need to be
found! This is ridicules ! I should be in China now, and my papers still
are not sent! I have been praying we could go this year,and the
impossible just got more impossible!

We made this video about the first year of life with our adopted son Philip. He was adopted from Thailand in 2001. Tomorrow he will be 8 years old. He is doing first grade for the second time (he had some learning delays). This year he is doing great in school. He is full of fun and full of life! So for the 8th birthday of my first son...I hope you enjoy this look back.

Hi, Juergen and I have just begun to pray for a fast TA (travel approval). At this point it does not seem possible
for us to travel this year...but this is what we are praying for!
First, we see no benefit to Sarah to have to wait so long for us to
come. Thomas waited a full 2 years for Thailand to give us a TA. This
only made him insecure. It may have taught us to persevere, but I'm not
sure we need the lesson again! We believe it is better for Sarah to
come sooner. Second, we want to take Nicole on this trip to China. She is
in a very difficult high school. It would be very hard for her to miss
allot of school. It would be the best if she could go during her
Christmas vacation. Finally, we want the tax benefits that come from
being able to claim Sarah on our taxes this year. I know that sounds
selfish, but we are a one income family with soon 5 children.
International adoption is very expensive (between 15-20
Thousand
dollars). We will manage it if we don't get the extra tax refund
(around $5,000) but Ouch! It would be an all around blessing and gift
to our family if Sarah could come home this year. I realize at this
point it seems nearly impossible, but God does impossible things. I
hope some of you would pray with us for this great blessing to happen!
Thank you!

This story has nothing to do with adoption or my family, but I thought it was interesting. A baker named Valentyn Shtefano made a wedding gown out of flour, eggs, sugar and caramel in the western Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod. I wonder if they eat the dress? And with a baker for a husband, will she fit in to the dress 10 years from now?
Did he wear his baker uniform to the wedding, or did he bake himself a suite? Was she the wedding cake, or just the top of the cake?
Note: I have no news about the adoption. I don't even know if our papers have gone to China yet. The delay is making me really sad! I either laugh or I cry. I am not even sure we will make it to China by Sarah’s 4th birthday at this speed. Her birthday is in February. You can probably expect allot of funny stuff on my blog. I'm going to try to keep laughing. There is nothing I can do to move the process forward. We are dealing with 3 countries...and things just take more time. I keep reminding myself that it is a wonder we are adopting at all. A year ago Juergen was saying no to another adoption. Today he is also very sad that everything is taking so long. He has really adopted Sarah in is heart, and it will be a beautiful thing to see him claim his daughter...a very beautiful thing! Maybe someday we will be picking out a wedding dress for Sarah. I don’t think it will be made of cake…but you never know. Actually, one of the things I want to buy in China is white silk...for someday!

Here is an interesting news article
Adoptions: Is the West the best for African AIDS orphans?

Love in a box
If you don't have another way to help needy kids or even if you do
you may want to pack a shoebox full of toys and gifts for the "Operation Christmas Child" project (operated by the Samaritans Purse). Last year they delivered over 7.6 million shoebox gifts to kids in about 90 countries around the world. This is a project I like to do with my kids every year. We pack a box for each member of our family. You need to be thinking about this now, because they collect the shoeboxes in November. You can find more information HERE. Please help bring some joy to a child by packing a shoebox (or two or three)...and remember to give the best you can (send some love to a child who could have been one of my children)!

In Germany the web site is HERE.

Coming to a theater near you...but not near me! The movie is called "One night with the king". It will come out in the USA on Oct.13th, but not until Easter 2007 in Germany! Maybe I'll be able to see it in China around Christmas? Enjoy!!!

Last night was the big party at the Heidelberg castle. Some friends of ours celebrated their 50th birthdays, 25th wedding anniversary, and the graduation of their two daughters from University in one grand party! They had about 200 guests, and we were blessed to be on the guest list. The one big problem was our babysitter was also invited. You need to understand we don't just have any old babysitter. Because Jessica is autistic, our sitter is a registered nurse. She is a good friend of ours, and goes to our church. She was invited to this big party too! I wasn't feeling all that great. I have a pretty bad cold. But we could not find a babysitter, so I did not go to the party. Instead Juergen took our 13 year old daughter Nicole to the party. Even though it would have been nice to attend, it was also really special to dress my daughter up to attend her first grand occasion! I would not have sent her, but I heard from the host that some other people were bringing their kids, and that it was ok! Nicole looked like a princess. She also drew this picture for me of the candle sticks in the castle. I've never been to the castle for dinner, but I've had dinner in another castle. I really believe there are times when it is honestly better to see your kids getting opportunities, then it is for you to have yet another opportunity. I've done all sorts of stuff. It is so much fun to see Nicole grow up and put on panty hose and her first makeup! I waited up for them to come home. They came home at 11pm (I’m sure the party lasted into the night). They were full of stories of the music, the other entertainment, the castle tour, the history lesson, the food, the people… it was wonderful to hear it!!! Tell me, what is better, to be Cinderella, or the Fairy God mother? I’ve been blessed to have been both…and I could not say what was better. I live with my prince and I’m still living happily ever after!

Today Juergen and I have been married for 16 years! We got new pictures!

I found this on one of my adoption web groups. They didn't know who wrote it and either do I. It is a take off of the book "If you give a mouse a cookie". I love that book. Jessica tore it up, so it's on my "wish list". If you want to buy Sarah a gift then our baby registry is Here. As I wrote in the past, I don't need new books, please get the used books and save your money.For the best price, go to the wish list, then just click on the picture of the book or video and you'll find all the prices (some books are as little as $1.00). All the things on our registry will be sent to my parent's home in Oregon. I will come there after Sarah's adoption to get her US passport.



If You Give A Mom A Muffin

If you give a Mom a muffin,
She'll want a cup of coffee to go with it.
She'll pour herself some.
The coffee will get spilled by her three year old.
She'll wipe it up.
Wiping the floor, she will find some dirty socks.
She'll remember she has to do some laundry.
When she puts the laundry in the washer,
She'll trip over some snow boots and bump into the freezer.
Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan dinner for
tonight.
She will get out a pound of hamburger (or tofu).
She will look for her cookbook (101 Things to Make with a Pound of
Hamburger (or tofu)).
The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.
She will see the phone bill which is due tomorrow.
She will look for her checkbook.
The checkbook is in the purse that is being dumped out by her two year
old.
She'll smell something funny.
She'll change the two year old.
While she is changing the two year old the phone will ring.
Her four year old will answer it and hang up.
She remembers that she wants to phone a friend to come for coffee on
Friday.
Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.
She will pour herself some.
And chances are......
If she has a cup of coffee......
Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

Shanghai always a lovely surprise
Sarah lives in Nanjing, a 2 hour train ride from Shanghai. I am pretty sure we will fly in and out of this very cool city. CNN had a short travel guide to Shanghai that you can find HERE.

UFO in Nanjing

DISCOVERY ATLAS

Sunday, October 1 at 9pm E/P
on the Discovery Channel. Please someone tape it for me!

In the News

Pop diva Madonna adopted a young boy in Malawi on Wednesday and moved ahead with plans to fund a center for 1,000 orphans, many of whom lost parents to
AIDS in the impoverished African nation.


What do you think? Is it a good thing when super stars adopt children and raise money for orphans, or does it make the whole thing "trendy", something in fashion today and out of fashion tomorrow? I'm personally glad people will at least look two more minutes at the need, and may consider helping to meet the need! What do you think?

Hi, Rainbow kids have a new adoption video feature. You can upload your adoption video there for others to watch. I loaded Thomas's new video there. Thomas and Philip were both listed on Rainbow kids waiting child photo list. Thailand no longer allows photo listing of their kids (too bad). There are many great kids waiting for adoption all over the world. A site like Rainbow kids gives you an idea of what waiting kids look like. It was one of the tools God used to convince me to take a more serious look at adopting. I guess I thought, if there are so many kids waiting, maybe I would not be turned down as a parent (believe it or not, I thought maybe I was not good enough). Anyway, if you have an adoption video then think about uploading it on Rainbow kids. Maybe your story will encourage others to take that step! The address is Here If you are thinking of adopting, take a look at the photo list! Maybe your child is there waiting for you?

I just talked to our agency. I guess the German Embassy would not do what they needed to do, so our agency found another path for our papers. Now all our documents are stuck at the Chinese Embassy. The Chinese Embassy is closed for a vacation. The folks in our agency are out of the office next week...you get the picture! We are not going to China until next year, this is almost certain! Most of our documents were finished in April! Do I scream, cry, or both? I'm going to need chocolate!
Back in March I quoted something I had read on a Yahoo group,

..."Lately I have been wondering why God so often
sends us into the school of waiting. Does He send us
there so that we will learn our lesson and never
have to wait again? Or does He send us there to
learn to savor times of waiting (times that will
inevitably come again and again), to learn to look
at them as opportunities to draw close to the heart
of God? In his book "Waiting on God", Andrew Murray
makes these observations:

At our first entrance into the school of waiting
upon God, the heart is mainly set on the blessings
which we wait for. God graciously uses our needs and
desires for help to educate us for something higher
than we were thinking of. We were seeking gifts; He,
the Giver, longs to give Himself and to satisfy the
soul with His goodness. It is just for this reason
that He often withholds the gifts, and that the time
of waiting is made so long. He is constantly seeking
to win the heart of His child for Himself. He wishes
that we would not only say, when He bestows the
gift, 'How good is God!' but that long before it
comes, and even if it never comes, we should all the
time be experiencing: it is good that a man should
quietly wait. 'The LORD is good unto them that wait
for him".

So, I will wait on God, and believe that He will do everything perfect!

Could you imagine?

PRIZE WINNERS: President Chirac recently presented 38-year-old mother of nine Claire Denis, above right, with the Médaille de la Famille Française, an award devised in the 1920s to reward fertility

This is taken from the new Time Magazine. Europe has a real hard time getting anyone to have children. I would think they would make it easy for people to adopt, and that they would even pay for the adoption (or at least part of it) but no...

The hard fact is that most European populations are shrinking and getting older, and today's children can look forward to seeing a big chunk of their future earnings taxed to support their elders. Even for countries with liberal immigration policies, maintaining current population levels requires a birthrate of around 2.1 children per woman. Yet in 2004, Spain recorded a birthrate of 1.32, lower even than Germany's 1.37 and Italy's 1.33. Even France, the second-most fertile European country after Ireland thanks to the noble efforts of Claire Denis and her compatriots, failed to hit replacement levels, with a birthrate of 1.9.

Well, I don't have any news about our paper work, and no new pictures to post. I found this short video of Heidelberg, Germany. This is were we live. I find it kind of quaint! Actually, it is a very big privilege for me to live in such a beautiful city. The weather has been pretty cold and dark lately. Thailand was very nice! I miss the sunshine! Juergen and I are actually invited to a party in the castle this weekend. I've never been to a party there (I've taken the tour but never a party). Pretty cool! Sarah lives in Nanjing. It gets hot in Nanjing. I hope she thinks snow is fun and interesting! She will probably see allot of it!

Daddy Survival Guide - Part 1 (of 5 parts)

"I don't feel lonely here," Porntip said. "I have vegetables. I have a house, and I have safety."

"I'm so happy to be here," she said. Echoing many of her neighbors when asked how long they'll stay, she replied: "Maybe forever."

The women of Rotan Batu, known informally as the Widows' Village, have lost their husbands to the bombs or bullets of a Muslim insurgency that has made this area of jungle and dirt-road villages the most dangerous part of Thailand.
Read more Here

I read this on another blog today. I've read it once before, maybe in a "Chicken Soup for the Soul" book? Anyway, I relate to it so I thought I would copy it for you. As a stay at home mom, I don't actually do anything, and at the same time, a million things.

"What Do You Do All Day?"

A man came home from work and found his three children outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard. The door of his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the house and there was no sign of the dog.

Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall. In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing. In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door.

He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she might be ill, or that something serious had happened. He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door. As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls. As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went. He looked at her bewildered and asked, "What happened here today?"

She again smiled and answered, "You know everyday when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world I do all day?" "Yes," was his incredulous reply. She answered, "Well, today I didn't do it."